White Rock Beverages


White Rock Beverages is an American beverage company located in Whitestone, Queens, New York City. The company was established in 1871 by pharmacist H.M. Colver in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Potawatomi Indians and settlers believed that the nearby White Rock natural spring had special medicinal powers, so White Rock Beverages started out as destination for vacationers and health seekers. By 1876, the company was bottling and distributing the natural spring water throughout the country.

Marketing with Santa Claus

is frequently credited with the "invention" of the modern image of Santa Claus as an old man in red-and-white garments – however, White Rock predated Coca-Cola's usage of Santa in advertisements for soft drinks. In 1923, the company used Santa to advertise its ginger ale after first using him to sell mineral water in 1915.

Drink maker history

By 1923, White Rock Beverages was one of the largest producers of mineral water in the United States. The company also produced ginger ale and other soft drinks. Its property value was then calculated at $7,311,767. This included land holdings and bottling plants.
In 1941, the company which manufactured White Rock soft drinks was called White Rock Mineral Springs Company.

Psyche logo

The company has used the image of Psyche as its logo for over 120 years. The company purchased the rights to a painting titled "Psyche at Nature's Mirror", by Paul Thumann, at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.

Brand portfolio

White Rock
Sioux City
Olde Brooklyn:
In the pre-code film Men Call It Love, Norman Foster's character tells his butler "Say, look here Brandt. Haven't you been with us long enough to know to always keep a supply of White Rock handy?" The butler stutters, "Why--why sir" and then opens the fridge to reveal an ice box full of bottles of White Rock, with the Psyche logo clearly visible.
In another pre-Code film, 1931's "Lonely Wives", Edward Everett Horton's characters ask Andrews, the butler, several times for a White Rock.
In Brad Strickland and John Bellairs' novel The Drum, the Doll, and the Zombie, Dr. Coote is described as crouching on his bed "like the White Rock girl on her stone."
In James M. Cain's novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, the narrator Frank Chambers mixes a drink with bourbon, White Rock and a couple of pieces of ice.
In Rex Stout's novel The League of Frightened Men, Archie Goodwin offers Hibbard a White Rock as a chaser with his whiskey.
In Wallace Thurman's novel The Blacker The Berry, a party of three, including the heroine Emma Lou, orders three bottles of White Rock in a Prohibition-era cabaret in Harlem.
An ad for White Rock Sparkling Water was the very first ad to appear in Gourmet Magazine, January 1941.